Design considerations with reference to glass/ carbon fibre reinforced polymer composites as structural materials

Abstract

Composite materials involving fibre reinforcement are replacing traditional materials at a rapid rate, The driving force for this change is extraordinary properties that can be obtained when the material is in the fibre form. The inherently superior fibre properties combined with a matrix phase 9f complementary properties result in a high performance composite. Thus the fibre reinforced composites have brought about an extraordinary facility in design engineering, in effect forcing the design-analyst to create different material for each application as he pursues the objective of minimizing weight and cost an:d maximizing safety and operational life. The fields of application of compositeS cover a wide range from sports, agriculture, automobiles of electronics and aerospace. In this paper, design considerations with reference to glass/carbon fibre reinforced polymer composites are discussed.